"The EUREAPA tool and Footprint Family indicators, being developed by the OPEN: EU project, will provide all of our decision-makers with the information they need to identify what the real risks of consumption are. As a policy-maker, I am keen to use the EUREAPA tool to support my policy decisions in the future."Sirpa Pietikanen, MEP for Finland

Europe

Not Translated

Now representing the world’s largest economy, the European Union has undertaken a two-year, 1.5 million Euro program called One Planet Economy Network (OPEN) EU, aimed at building an economy that works within nature’s means. The core of the project is the creation of a Footprint tool that enables European decision-makers to explore future scenarios and create evidence-based policy that respects ecological limits.

The tool, called EUREAPA, is being created through a collaborative effort by Global Footprint Network, Stockholm Environmental Institute(SEI), WWF-UK, Twente University, SERI and Ecologic. EUREAPA will provide data for a “footprint family of indicators,” including carbon Footprint, water footprint and Ecological Footprint in a way that allows them to be integrated and compared. The tool will enable policy makers to forecast and back-cast, assess policy options and produce scenarios for any EU country or the EU as a whole.

In addition to its applications through OPEN EU, participating in the project will allow Global Footprint Network to lay the foundation to implement our Science and Technology Roadmap. For example, it will enable us to provide a more powerful multi-lateral tradeflow analysis that provides the means to compare products and sectors. Such analysis can help governments direct investment toward more resource-efficient goods and services and promote greener ways of meeting market demand.